Macedonia Baptist Church calls new pastor

Macedonia Baptist Church, located north of Rolla, has called the Rev. Gregory Ells as pastor.

R.D. Hohenfeldt | Staff Writer

Macedonia Baptist Church, located north of Rolla, has called the Rev. Gregory Ells as pastor.

“I am honored and delighted to be asked to serve the Macedonia Baptist Church family. Liz and I are eager to become part of the Rolla community, and we look forward to meeting, knowing and serving its great people,” said Ells.

The couple from Indiana have served churches in Indiana, Wisconsin and Colorado. They moved to Phelps County from Colorado Springs, Colo. Ells attended a Denver seminary.

“My call into full-time ministry began over 10 years ago, with God giving me an overwhelming desire to minister to, and serve people,” Ells said in his introductory letter to the church. “My wife Liz and I with our two children were actively involved in our local church eagerly serving wherever needed. Upon receiving this call from the Lord, I sought counsel and guidance from my pastor as well as other spiritual mentors, and they affirmed my calling by their own witness to the Lord's leading in my life.”

A contractor in Indianapolis at the time, Ells had founded and built his business to 15-25 employees over a 24-year career. He had enrolled in a distance learning program to earn a degree in business administration when he received the call to serve. He continued with his business and his business degree studies while seeing his two children through Bible college.

At the appropriate time, he began working on a bachelor’s degree in theology. Upon completion of that degree, he became the senior pastor of Ripon Baptist Church in Ripon, Wis., in the spring of 2006.

He re-enrolled in seminary to earn a Master of Divinity, resigning the pastorate in the summer of 2008 to move to Colorado Springs and finish the seminary degree work.

“Almost immediately upon settling in to our home we began to reach out to the un-churched in our community, and I started a Bible fellowship in our home, where we have had the privilege of leading some neighbors to a saving relationship with Christ,” Ells told the congregation.

After receiving the master’s degree in May, Ells began looking for a church to serve.

“I found a classified ad in The Pathway,” he told the Daily News. The Pathway is a statewide newspaper published by the Missouri Baptist Convention.

He submitted a resume, was asked to come and preach and was subsequently called by the congregation to become the pastor.

Macedonia Baptist Church is located north of Rolla, five miles on Highway 63 from Interstate 44 to the rock quarry, then right for a couple of miles.

Sunday School is at 10 a.m. followed by the worship service at 11 a.m. Bible studies begin at 6 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The church has a website at http://www.macedoniarolla.org/ and a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MacedoniaChurchRolla. More information about the church can be found at those sites.

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